From intern to project manager – how I found my way

In 2021 I sat down at my desk at xappido for the first time, as an intern. With a notebook full of questions and the firm intention of not getting too much wrong. I still remember my first small presentation in front of the whole team. I was so nervous that I would happily have been invisible. Today I am a project manager. And no, there was no grand master plan. More a lot of curiosity, a few challenges, and the realisation that responsibility is not something you ever feel entirely “ready” for.

Between clients and team: the art of translation

As a project manager you find yourself between two worlds fairly quickly. Clients want results, the development team needs time and clarity. At first I tried to please everyone. That does not work for long. What does work is transparency. If I explain honestly to a client why something is taking longer, and show the team why a particular feature is business-critical, understanding grows. My role is less that of a mediator and more that of a translator. I make sure both sides speak the same language.

When the plan does not work out

Shortly before a deadline, someone on the development team calls in sick. Situations like that are part of the job. In that moment one thing helps above all: staying calm and working through it methodically. What is genuinely critical? Can someone on the team take over? And then informing the client early. Not with a problem, but with a proposed solution. I have learned that clients can handle delays. What they do not like is being surprised by one on the day of the deadline.

Clocking off, switching off

Sometimes thoughts about work simply carry on into the evening. That still happens now and then. But I have noticed that time off needs structure just as much as the working day does. For me there are two things above all that reliably switch my head into after-work mode. Table tennis – firmly scheduled, every week. At the table there are no deadlines, only the next ball. And at home my cats Mogli and Balou are waiting, and they could not care less whether a sprint went well. They want attention, and they want it now. There is no better way to switch off.

What I take from it

You do not have to know everything to take on responsibility. You have to be willing to learn and honest enough to admit when you do not know something. The path from intern to project manager was not a straight one, and that is exactly what made it interesting.